Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A

Thirst no more! The Fountain of living water is here!

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church, Memphis, TN

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 27, 2011

Dearest beloved, today is the 3^rd Sunday of Lent. Today’s first Scriptural reading taken from Exodus 17:3-7 tells us of the experience of the Israelites as they were being led out of Egypt by God through Moses. As you already know, they were slaves in Egypt for around 400 years, and during those long years, they experienced untold and unspeakable suffering in the hands of their host- the Egyptians. They lamented all day as they were made to engage in hard labors, and cried all nights due to harsh dictates of Pharaoh, the Egyptian leader. Eventually God heard their cries and lamentations and sent his servant Moses to lead them out of the land of slavery and misery. No wonder Psalm 34:17-18 says, “The righteous call to the Lord, and he listens. The Lord is near to those who are discouraged; he saves those who have lost all hope”.

On their way to the Promised Land, the Israelites found themselves without water and they complained to Moses their leader. But this was not the first time they had complained. First, they complained that the water they had to drink was bitter. Then, they complained of not having enough food to eat. God had provided for them in the past but that didn't keep them from complaining. They were fine as long as they had what they needed. But when it appeared that they lacked the necessary resources to survive, they became anxious. They quarreled with Moses and said, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and livestock?” They were really angry with Moses and blamed him for taking them from Egypt where they had what they needed. Because of thirst, the Israelites preferred remaining well fed slaves to hungry free people. Because of thirst, they preferred going back to Egypt. Because of thirst, they forgot that the same God who performed great miracles through his servant Moses as they made their exit and escape from Egypt and the Egyptian army is also able to provide even water for them. Because of thirst, just a little problem on the way, they forgot that the same El Gibbor (The mighty God) of Isaiah 9:6 is also the Yahweh Jireh- God our provider of Genesis 22:14. Because of thirst, the Israelites forgot the mighty deeds of God. They forgot that the same El Elyon (the most high God) of Genesis 15:2 and Psalm 21:7 is also called El Shaddai “all sufficient God, or God our sufficiency” (Genesis 22:17). Because of thirst, the Israelites forgot that the same God Moses called Jehovah Nissi in Exodus 17:15- God is our banner, is also Jehovah Shalom- God is our peace (Judges 6:24). Because of thirst, they forgot that Jehovah Saboath (The Lord of host) of 1 Samuel 1:3 is also Jehovah Roi-the Lord, our shepherd of Psalm 23:1. Because of thirst, they forgot that El Olam- our everlasting God of Isaiah 40:28 is also Jehovah Shammah- God who is present (Ezekiel 48:35).

But God is ever faithful. God does not attempt to bring you out of problem, and then abandons you half way. When God leads you through the dark with his light, he does not turn off the light half way in the journey. Even in our unfaithfulness, he remains ever faithful. Despite the complaints and anger of his people, the Israelites, God still remained unshakably faithful. That is why St. Paul in 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “Even if we are not faithful, God remains faithful because he cannot be false to himself.” As the freed people were heaping their blames on Moses, the servant of God went to God in prayer, “Lord, what shall I do with these people? A little more they will stone me.” Of course God never disappoints. He does not overlook his people. And when God sends you on a mission, he does not leave you by yourself; he accompanies you as you carry out his injunction. God hears us when we call on his name. He hears us when we call him to save us from difficulty. In Psalm 50:15, God says, “Call upon me in the day of your trouble, I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Do you ask God for help when you find yourself with some need? What is it you thirst for? Perhaps you thirst for happiness, good health, peace or a miracle. I believe that most of the time we ask God to solve our problems or fill our needs. However, by asking God to help us we have to yield to God’s solution, which may not be the one we want.

The Israelites suffered an identity problem. They were God’s chosen people. How could God let them go without water? They suffered a loss of memory. They failed to understand that the same God who divided the Red Sea to enable them walk through to the other side is omnibenevolent and omnipotent enough to provide water for them. They had forgotten the fact that they were slaves before the Exodus. They were living in bondage and now they were liberated. Rather than be grateful for their freedom they complained when they encountered some hardship. What they really needed was some Living Water, a fresh stream of faith. God cannot let you swim across a mighty ocean and then allows a glass of water to drown you. Not the God I serve!

The Israelites were experiencing a collective hysteria. They thought that God was letting them down. But God said to Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” With this, God again demonstrated that he is Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Roi, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Tsidkenu etc.

Sisters and brothers, the Rock that was struck, from which water gushed out to satisfy the thirst of the Israelites is Jesus Christ whom 1 Peter 2:4 regards as the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. From this rock will come forth springs of living water; from this rock will burst forth the fountain of life; from this rock will emerge a new life, a new dawn, a new era, a new history and a new experience. Jesus is the Rock that was struck; Jesus is also the Water that flowed from the rock. Jesus is the water of life. In the gospel of John 7:37 he says, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me and drink. As the scripture says, ‘whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart.”

In today’s gospel taken from John 4:4-42, Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, “Give me a drink.” But realizing that Jesus was a Jew, the woman replied, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink.” Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. But the Lord has seen a woman, a daughter of God to save. Her life was dry. She had five failed marriages. Her self esteem had reached an all-time low. She was alienated from society and any thought of her thirst being quenched was hopeless. Her life was so bad she had to go to the well when no one else was around in order to escape her feelings of guilt and the ridicule of others.

This unnamed Samaritan woman was thirsty. A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both as in the case of this Samaritan woman who met Jesus by Jacob’s Well. Physically she was thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brought her to the well day after day. But spiritually she was also thirsty, an inner thirst which drove her from one man to another and for which she hasn’t found any satisfaction. By the time she met Jesus she was in her sixth marriage, and yet she said to Jesus “I have no husband,” indicating that she was probably already looking for the seventh.

In biblical interpretations, numbers are often significant. According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of imperfections, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage was therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. On the other hand, the number Seven symbolically is a number of perfection, completion, finality and sufficiency. Jesus comes to this woman as the seventh man in her life. She encounters the seventh man and finally experiences the satisfaction her soul thirsts for. Jesus made the woman feel good about herself because Jesus believed in her and forgave her. She felt unworthy, but Jesus restored her sense of worth by asking her to help him. She thirsted no more as she became whole again. The seventh man, Jesus opens up a new era for her.

Dearest beloved, I want us to understand that by engaging the Samaritan woman in a discussion Jesus broke two Jewish laws which forbade a Jewish man from talking to a woman alone. A man must be in the company of others before he can talk to a woman. This is the reason why his disciples, on returning from the food buy, were perplexed that he was talking with a woman all alone. The Jewish law also forbade a Jew from talking to a Samaritan, a Gentile. Jews did not regard the Samaritans. They avoided sharing anything in common with them. That’s why the woman’s reply to Jesus was, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for drink?”

Sisters and brothers, Jesus broke two laws in order to accomplish a higher good. He disregarded a discriminatory racial law that looked down on others for not belonging to the so called superior race. He also disregarded the gender law that disfavors women. And by this single action, the Lord demonstrates that all human beings- male and female are equal. He demonstrates that all men and women are God’s children. He demonstrates that though we are many and different-different racial origins, difference backgrounds, different tongues, skin-color etc, we are still one human family, God’s family, God’s children created in God’s image. Jesus demonstrates that he is the fountain of life by giving a new life to the Samaritan woman. He engaged her in a discussion which was against the law; asked her for a drinking water which was against the law, forgave her sins which was a blasphemy to the Jews who claimed that only God can forgive sins. Jews did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Finally, the Lord upheld her dignity as a woman and upheld the dignity of all women.

Jesus also broke another law by going into the Gentile city and spending few days with the Samaritans. He was not supposed to do that. Remember that Jews had nothing in common with the Gentiles. But the Lord broke all racial barriers and put up residence with those considered as “outcasts;” he ate with them, slept in their homes, lived in their neighborhood, preached to them, performed miracles among them, quenched their thirsts, restored their human dignity, and offered them salvation which the Jews considered to be exclusively theirs. Jesus broke the Jewish law for a higher law. He broke the human law in order to keep the divine law. He is indeed the Fountain of life.

The Samaritan woman found the Lord and thirsted no more. To all those who thirst and hunger, you too can encounter the Lord. Encounter him today and thirst no more! In Revelation 21:6, the Lord says, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

“Listen to Him”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

Holy Names Church

Memphis, Tennessee

In Genesis 12: 1, 4, God says to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Verse 4 says, “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.”

Psalm 95:7-8 says, “For God is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”

Hebrews 4:7 says, “Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 3:15 says, “As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:7-8 says, “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

In the gospel of John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

In John’s gospel 10: 14, Jesus again says, I am the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know.” In verse 15 he says, “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Verse 16 says, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

Have you ever had a real mountaintop experience? Have you ever had a profound experience when you felt an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Have you ever had a one-one encounter with Jesus Christ? The experience was so real, so overwhelming, so captivating and so true that you heard the Son of God talking to you. This experience is usually termed a deep religious experience. It is usually the turning point in the lives of many. The mountaintop experience is a Shechinah experience where a believer feels the glory of God resting upon him/her.

This mountaintop Shechinah experience can sometimes be experienced in a retreat or summer camp. Some have experienced it while reading and reflecting on the Word of God. In some cases, it has been experienced when someone is alone with self. The ups and downs of life have also led to this Shechinah experience. It has been experienced by people at different times and places.

The Sacred Scripture is full of persons who had had this mountaintop experience. A good example is John’s testimony found in Revelation 21:1-8-

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away." The one who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Then he said, "Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true." He said to me, "They are accomplished. I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son/daughter. But as for cowards, the unfaithful, the depraved, murderers, the unchaste, sorcerers, idol-worshipers, and deceivers of every sort, their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Other examples of persons who had mountaintop experiences are these:

In Genesis 15, Abraham had a vision in which God told him all that was to come, how he would bear a son and, through him, become the father of a multitude, and how he would prosper in every way and live to a ripe old age and die in peace.

In Genesis 32: 24-28, Jacob had a vision and in it he wrestled with an angel all night until he received a blessing … and a new name, Israel.

In Judges 6: 11, Gideon met the angel of the Lord sitting under an oak tree as he was threshing wheat in a wine press to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

In Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah said, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”

In Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel speaks of the vision of many dry bones which the Lord had showed him and then asked him to prophesy to the bones:

“The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

The entire gospel of Luke 1 tells us of Zechariah’s and Mary’s encounter with Angel Gabriel that totally changed their lives. Zechariah was promised a son- John the Baptist; Mary was also promised a Son- Jesus Christ.

In today’s gospel, Jesus stands between Moses and Elijah on Mount Hermon, and a voice declared from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” It is the transfiguration of the Lord! In this mountaintop experience of the Lord, Moses and Elijah appeared and started talking to him. Peter, James and John were also present. It was Moses who received the Law from God on Mount Sinai, and Elijah could be regarded as the greatest of the prophets. So, on this mountaintop experience of Jesus, there is the Law and the prophets in conversation with Jesus Christ the New Testament/ Covenant. And this gives lots of credence to our Lord’s earlier declaration in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Now in this mountaintop experience of Jesus, two great figures of the Old Testament- Moses and Elijah, appeared on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, just to confirm that Jesus is indeed the expected Messiah. Jesus is the expected Savior, that’s why he was the only one whose “face shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling white as light.” As this was not enough confirmation, the voice of the Father declared from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” So, the Old Testament and the Father in heaven are now confirming that Jesus is indeed the long awaited Messiah. And the Father is saying to us, “Listen to him.”

A Christian by definition is a follower of Jesus Christ. The Christian is the person who listens to Jesus because you cannot follow someone you are unwilling or unable to listen to. And listening to Jesus entails hearing his Word or reading his Word and obeying his Word. Listening to the Lord also entails keeping silence. Psalm 46: 10 says, “Be still (be silent) and know that I am God.” God is not a noise maker. When God speaks, he tends to whisper.

This is the season of Lent. During this holy season, the Church emphasizes the practice of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. The Gospel reading on Ash Wednesday taken from Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18, Jesus speaks of how we should give alms, how we should pray, how we should fast. The Lord does not want us to blow our trumpet when we give alms as the hypocrites do. He does not want us to showcase our prayer in public places just to get people’s praise as the hypocrites do. Jesus also does not want us to appear gloomy when we fast in order to tell people that we are fasting. He wants us to give alms. He wants us to pray. He wants us to fast. But alms-giving, fasting and prayer are not the goal. They are not the end. They are means to the end.

The Father wants us to listen to his Son. His Son asks us to pray, fast and give alms especially during this season of Lent. To listen to him therefore means doing what he has asked us to. In this case, we must pray, fast and give alms. But as you pray, remember that the greatest prayer is praying to be more like Jesus; the greatest fasting and abstinence is avoiding sinful acts, and the greatest alms-giving is giving ourselves completely to Jesus. Jesus did not just give alms to the needy; he gave himself completely to all who need him. Giving ourselves totally to him is the greatest alms giving. And the best decision we can make during this period is to decide to live better, and to follow the Lord wherever he leads us.

The Father declares from heaven, “Listen to him.” Listen to what my Son tells you. Listen to what he communicates to us through his Church. If he tells us go, just go. And if he tells us come, just come. Obey my Son and it shall be well with you. We can fast for all we can, pray all the time, give everything we own to the poor, but if these external disciplines are not as a result of inward conversion and renewal, then we are wasting our time. We must listen to Jesus who says in Matthew 3: 2, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.” In Mark 1: 15, he says, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” Jesus loves us so much and desires what is good for us. It is this love for us that drives him to cry out “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.” Now this call to repent is a call to abandon sin because sin hurts. It takes away our peace and joy. Sin cuts us off from life and dries up within us the very source of our freedom and dignity. Again the Season of Lent tells us to let go of sin and let God in our life. “Listen to him” in what he says in Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord for mercy, and he will have mercy on them.” We must listen to Jesus who says in Matthew 16: 24, “If anyone would come after me, the person must deny self and take up the cross and follow me.”

Dearest beloved, the voice of the Father that sounded from heaven at transfiguration of his Son has two things to say to us. First, the voice introduces Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Having introduced his Son to us, the voice urges us, “Listen to him.” Listen to my Son if you want to live; listen to my Son if you want to be happy; listen to my Son if you want to experience peace. Listen to my Son if you want to have a Shechinah experience. Listen to my Son if you want to be faithful to me. Listen to my Son if you want to have your life secured. Listen to my Son if you want to experience eternal bliss in the world to come. The Father says, “Listen to him.” To listen to Jesus is to be a disciple of Jesus, and to be a disciple of the Lord is to walk with him to Golgotha. As we walk with him, as we talk with him, as we listen to him, our human nature is being transformed into the likeness of divine nature. By listening to him, we become more and more like the person we listened to.

If we listen to Him today, listen to him tomorrow, and listen to him to everyday, we will be transformed, transfigured, translated and transited into eternal glory.